I've been so spoiled recently with my ridiculous collection that whenever a dam needs maintenance I just open up a freshie, but I've been jamming my space jam prime for a while and the base cup is on the verge of chipping. You know that fraying stage? Where one side of the cup rim is getting beat? What do you do? The frays catch the string and I don't want to chip this guy, it's been so good to me! I've seen guys swell up their base cups with water and take a file to it, twist their ken so instas and taps hit a different part.. How about wax? Has wax helped with basecup durability? I'm thinking about putting some sand paper on a flat surface and evenly sliding it across to flatten out the base cup a little bit. What are some tricks you use? any tips you found that seem to work best?
I've done these two things. You can use water to pop out dents and things on a dama, just don't use much and it'll be okay. Too much, and it'll get a water logged kinda feeling that you don't want. Flat-sanding and reshaping can sometimes be necessary as well
My best decision ever, was starting doing balance tricks on the side of the tama. I do it since 5 months, and it gives great effects all of my damas before this decision, had destroyed basecup like you said, and what I thought, it happens when you land lh flip on the bevel. Best decisipn ever, now my damas (the ones I bought after this decision) has a bese cup in a very good condition. I do balance tricks and flips on the side of tama, unless I want to land lighthoise flip insta trade in or something like this. I remember asking @htimSxelA about it, and he said the same thing that he said above this message ans also he said that I can stop doing lh flips I hope someone will try my idea and that it will help him. And I want to confirm my idea
Hmm interesting, I think you are right, doing tricks like insta LH flips on the side of the tama probably is less damaging, since there isn't a sharp edge to smash into the cup rim. Good thinking! Related: when I started playing, I used the same TK16 for a year before buying a second kendama. That old TK16 is still good, no chips in the cups or anything, though they are worn down a decent amount. Tricks just weren't high impact back then... shows how trick selection can affect the longevity of your dama
Lent out my standard carry kendama at an event and got it back with all sorts of cup fuzz and aberrations. Went after the outside edges with some 800 grit sandpaper so nothing would catch but it's not so bad I'll resort to wood filler yet. I've had mixed results with Plastic Wood and others.
I’ve been watching some people shred and I’ve seen some people play like this now. They land their balance and flips tricks to the left side of the bevel. I’ve always just tried to balance over the bevel because that’s how I’ve learned to play through tutorials and stuff. Maybe your way is better for the base cup, It’s worth trying. Mine mainly get torn up from hard impacts from dropping it or learning a flip lh trick.
so do you pull up balance tricks from the tama with the string on the left and hole toward the right? It’s kinda odd feeling
whatever is the inside, or pointing to your body. String on the left if you're right dominant, string on the right if you're left dominant. i turn the tama in mid air tho personally... but whatever is most comfortable for you man even if you only turn the tama for tricks after the pull up itll help.
Alright. I’m going to try it out for a bit. I thought it would be difficult to go from a Lh to stilt but you just have to rotate the tama and your fingers to the right position and proceed.
About airplane, like mjr said, I swing it with tama hole facing up, and I change it mid air beforr landing. About doing stilt. I just change the hole position to normal (tama hole facing up) because just having lh like that doesn't destroy the base cup
Gotcha we are only worried about insta lh, flips and stuff like that? That’s when to use the this trick